Story Highlights

As he walked around Hashiro Child Care Center early this month, St. Cloud's Ismail Ali made no effort to hide his smile.

Whether he's interacting with children or introducing himself to guests, that smile is a consistent presence. And why not? Last year, Ali was told many times that his dream of opening a day care center wouldn't come to fruition, at least not in the area of Sauk Rapids that Ali had picked out.

Now Ali and more than 30 employees have been running a child care center in Benton County for the better part of four months and have dozens of clients in their Rolodex.

"My goal was to have a day care center in the St. Cloud area ... so we are doing good," Ali said. "I'm happy."

The goal was bred from working with the St. Cloud school district as community liaison and student and family advocate. Ali said that over the years he's seen too many Somali children on waiting lists or being denied entry to early childhood programs that could prepare them for the structure of a school setting. The lack of group child care experience can be harmful to the children's development, Ali said.

"I wanted something to help these Somali kids," he said.

In Stearns County, particularly St. Cloud, there are options for Somali children to receive child care and early childhood services. But once you cross into Benton County, those options dwindle quickly, Ali said. Hashiro Child Care Center, on St. Cloud's east side, is nestled along the county line.

"We need a lot of child care centers and the closest one from here is near St. Cloud Technical College and the other one is in Foley and no other child care center is close to me in Benton County," Ali said.

Hashiro Child Care Center is licensed to provide daytime child care to infants, toddlers, preschool and school-age children. Within the first two weeks of business, the center was providing care to 30 children, according to Ali. The center is currently licensed to serve 72 children and pending state approval, will be able accommodate 86 children by the end of the summer, Ali said.

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Children played with providers nearby on June 5 at the Hashiro Child Care Center.(Photo: Jun-Kai Teoh, jteoh@stcloudtimes.com)

Hashiro's hurdles

It wasn't easy getting to this point. In March 2013, Ali and Jim Knoblach, the owner of the building Ali hoped to rent, requested a conditional-use permit from Sauk Rapids. The city's planning commission voted 6-1 against recommending the permit after members raised concerns about the safety of locating that type of business in an industrial area.

So Ali and Knoblach took the permit request to the Sauk Rapids City Council. It was voted down 3-2. The was despite that fact that Knoblach cited several letters of support from neighboring property owners, other organizations and residents. He also cited three examples of organizations with young children near industrial buildings in the St. Cloud area.

"It was frustrating because from my standpoint ... the city had allowed me to use that building as a school originally," Knoblach said. "I think their main reason was that this was also a day care, but in my mind the nearby gymnastics facility (North Crest Kids Activity Center) had some of the same similarities."

In October, Ali and the Knoblach-owned Northstar Properties sued the city. The lawsuit contended the city's grounds for denying the conditional use permit were insufficient and didn't follow the requirements of the zoning ordinance. The lawsuit was dismissed.

Some questioned the role race played in the situation but Osman Ali — Ismail's son and the jack-of-all-trades manager at Hashiro — said he isn't ready to go that far.

"I don't want to take the easy way, I don't want to say that it's racism. I think it's about accepting new people that you're not familiar with. They're not familiar with Somali people," he said.

Knoblach believes Ismail Ali is the perfect person to foster that relationship.

"I've been impressed meeting Ismail. He's a good member of the community," Knoblach said.

Knoblach noted that perhaps more importantly, Ismail Ali is interested in raising other good community members.

"I think it's in our interest as a community to see the Somali population become educated and be able to get jobs in our community and be able to contribute to the community," he said. "Many of the Somali here are doing that already."

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The Hashiro Child Care Center outdoors playground has a small paved area for young kids to play in child-safe toy cars.(Photo: Jun-Kai Teoh, jteoh@stcloudtimes.com)

Leaving a legacy

After moving past all the issues surrounding the business's inception, there was still one more person Ismail Ali had to convince about opening a child care center — his son.

Osman Ali said that between the political aspect of starting the business and knowing the legal issues associated with running your own day care, he wanted no part of his father's dream.

"In the beginning, he was dragging me here ... now I'm the one who is running things," he said. "He's comfortable and he trusts me now."

Ismail Ali said that eventually he'd like his children to take over operations completely.

"One of my kids, she's helping us right now and she's taking classes at St. Cloud State University for business administration, the other one is taking nursing classes. I told her that she has to become a (registered nurse). In two years they will take over the program and I will be out," he said.

Once Osman Ali became involved in the center's everyday activities, he began to see what his father saw in the endeavor. He was not alone.

St. Cloud's Fartun Arab has four children under the age of 9 who attend Hashiro Child Care Center. She said she's impressed by what the organization has to offer.

"I like this place because there are a lot of opportunities, it's safe and it's clean," she said. "They learn a lot of things here."

Her children, who attended an in-home day care last year, seem to love it, too.

"When I tell them they have to stay home, they cry. Because they get to do a lot of activities here. They do a lot of playing, they do a lot of learning, they want to be social," Arab said.

Appreciating other cultures, diversity

The center's atmosphere benefits the people giving care as well. Karissa Schlagel, a student at St. Cloud Technical & Community College, said that working at Hashiro Child Care Center has given her both professional and cultural insight.

"I think this is great experience," Schlagel said. "I think that it's a good place to bring your children regardless of your background."

Ismail Ali agrees with Schlagel's sentiment because it echos his hopes for the business. While the day care center currently caters to mostly Somali families, the intent is to have a place for all children.

"It's multicultural, I don't want it to be only Somali children," he said. "Different cultures ask if they can bring their kids here and I say 'definitely.' "

Besides increasing diversity, Ali would like to add free parenting classes and more teachers over the summer as well. All anyone who is skeptical has to do is look at Ismail Ali's track record to see that he intends to follow through with what he says.

"People were saying how can you open a day care in St. Cloud? ... They'd say St. Cloud used to be called 'White Cloud' and nobody likes you guys. I told them that whether they like us or not, we will open a program," he said. "We can all come together."